The Black-White Test Score Gap Down-under. Andrew Leigh observes: Discussing NT schools, the CIS’s Helen Hughes writes: This week all Australian children in school years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat numeracy and literacy tests for the second time. The tests are to give Australians an annual snapshot of basic educational progress. The first national ‘NAPLAN’ tests, held in May…
Category Archives Economics – Education
Building the education revolution. The Government has announced Building the Education Revolution, a $14.7 billion long term investment to improve the quality of facilities, like gymnasiums, libraries and science labs in Australian schools. Prime Minister of Australia, 3 February 2009. Comment: This appears to be a truly massive amount of money, I hope the expertise and coordination is equal to…
Impact of creative partnerships on young people's attainment: Results from 2005 and 2006. Schools involved with Creative Partnerships, the UK government's national creative learning programme, have reduced truancy by up to a fifth and pupils have gained better exam results by up to two and a half grades at GCSE, according to this research. [Creative Economy : Reports]
Oil drying up as world remains unaware.. On top of the other problems plaguing the world, such as global warming and the current financial meltdown, there’s a third pressing issue that threatens to bring the good life to an end: The world is fast running out of oil. [Environmental Health News]
What is school for? Seth Godin Seems like a simple question, but given how much time and money we spend on it, it has a wide range of answers, many unexplored, some contradictory. I have a few thoughts about education, how we use it to market ourselves and compete, and I realized that without a common place to start,…
Structurally, this has been coming for a while and I can see some value in this if it is done correctly. There are dangers however, most notably in setting a price hurdle that will stop many from undertaking the very skills path they need because the risk/reward equation of deferred loans in this sector will be based on a lower…
Merit, yes... Although assumptions about future returns are predicated on current labour-force structures? The debt/liability is permanent! Jobs... not so much? HECS for TAFE: the case for extending income contingent loans. In this paper, a case is argued for introducing an income contingent loan to the VET sector. The economic underpinning is similar to the Higher Education Scheme (HECS) which…
Andrew Leigh has a rivetting outline and discussion on the merits of "merit pay" and its relationship to policy work on teacher effectiveness. Have a read and engage in the debate. Debating the merits of merit pay. Glenn Rowley and Lawrence Ingvarson have a piece in today’s Age, criticising my recent study on teacher effectiveness. It’s not online, so I’ve…
More and more parents are willing to make big sacrifices to send their children to private schools. And the schools are coming up with ways to help them pay. David Rood and Chee Chee Leung explain how - and why - they do it. Link: Average income, private school.